Champions of RASP
by Novanto
Summary: Congradulations reader! You have been selected to read about the session of SBURB GOLD, and see the story of the Champions of Prospit and Derse.
1. Chapter 1: Chris, the Turquoise Scarab

**Novanto's Note: First off, I'd like to thank my followers for reading and enjoying my work!**

**Second, I know you were all expecting AoX 2, or the Script, but I was struck by inspiration and had to make this ASAP! Enjoy!**

**Third, in Pesterlogs, DD types in tan, ED types in blue-green.**

* * *

\- experimentalDeity [ED] began pestering diligentDiviner [DD] -  
DD: **\ 'Sup, dude?  
ED: †Not much... had the dream again.†  
DD: **\ The yellow city one again?  
ED: †Yeah...†  
ED: This time I saw a planet below the city covered in an even bigger one, like the one I was in was a moon or somethin'†  
ED: †I could even see a chain!†  
DD: **\ Wow...  
DD: **\ All I get are flashes of purple, black and... darker black.  
DD: **\I try to avoid looking at the last one...  
ED: †Sounds creepy...†  
DD: **\ Yeah...  
DD: **\ Hey did you get your Sburb copy yet?  
ED: †Dunno; I'll go check.†  
ED: †BRB†  
\- experimentalDeity [ED] is now an idle chum! -

Chris Eyvindr pushed away from his laptop, yawning. Spinning his black swivel chair around to look at the rest of his room, he smiled sleepily at things scattered about.

In one corner was a 6-foot-tall sculpture of his anthropomorphic cat, or Khajiit, Dragonborn in Skyrim, complete with removable dragonscale armor and a bone War-axe, that stood next to his desk. On one side of the room was a closet, on the door of which was a full-body mirror. Across the room was an oak bookshelf with multiple books, as well as a small clay figurine that looked like a fusion of the classical elements (a head made of fiery red and orange, torso made of earthy black and brown, a dark green "heart" like core, blue green watery arms, and a ghostly tail of white and sky blue) next to a cork-handled white conductor's baton. Across from his desk was a large, twin-size bed covered in a green Rayquaza-pattern duvet. Behind Chris' computer was a looking out into the backyard. Between bed and shelves was the door. The walls were a bright blue, and the trimming was emerald green. The carpet was golden yellow.

Chris himself wore pajama pants, while his pale slender torso was left bare. His long messy brown hair partially covered his glasses-covered eyes. The teenager stood and stretched, before walking toward the closet, pulling from it a pair of jeans and his favorite shirt that bore a blue-green scarab on the front. The shirt had been a birthday gift from his internet friend Juan. Slipping the clothes on, he ran a comb through his bed head and tied the strands into a tail.

Chris paused to look himself over in the mirror as he slipped his shoes on. "Lookin' good!" He smiled and winked at his reflection. "Now to check the mail."

The brunet wandered down the hall of his house to the front door. Chris' house was one-story, fairly small and simple. The only actual notable feature of the house was a massive dormant volcano that sat nearby, and a lagoon that held a strange-looking frog-topped temple and the pair of towers surrounding it, all of which seemed in near perfect condition. Chris paid no attention to this however, intent on the mailbox in front of him. Opening it, he felt around inside.

"Let's see..." the boy muttered as he flipped through the cluster of items. "Boring coupon booklet... more boring coupons..." He suddenly smiled at two envelopes. "From Skaianet, this must be it!" Chris grinned, tucking the envelopes back into the wad of mail. Turning around, he looked up at the giant frog statue atop the lagoon ruins and sighed happily. The figure had always had a calming effect on the boy. It had been where he had found the statue in his room, and where he had always gone to seek shelter and safety. "Somethin' big's comin', friend. I can feel it!"

* * *

**Just a note readers: This story switches perspective between Chris and Juan each chapter. Chris is the odd-numbered chapters, while Juan is even numbers (starting from chapter 2).**

**Also, the Pesterchum accounts of both characters are real! However, I've been unable to get on Pesterchum as of late. Sorry!**


	2. Chapter 2: Juan, the Tan Thunderbolt

**Novanto's Note: This one's gonna be LOOOONG. Meet Juan Horado Miguel. He hails from Mexico, and as a result, there's going to be a large amount of Spanish. I will provide translations at the closing author's note**

* * *

Juan Miguel, a black-haired Mexican teen who was fluent in English, attempted to patiently wait for his friend to return to his computer. The teen wore a plain white shirt with a tan lightning bolt on it, along with jeans and tennis shoes. As he waited, he examined the letter that had come with his Sburb disks.

Hola, señor Juan Miguel

Usted ha sido elegido para ser uno de los primeros jugadores de o nuevo juego Sburb Oro! Esperamos que usted y su coplayer, uno Chris Eyvindr, disfrutar del juego! Por favor, háganoslo saber después de que usted lo bata sobre cualquier preocupación que pueda tener.

Atentamente, la Compañía Skaianet (1)

He set the letter aside and sighed. "Andele, Chris, vayamos...!" (2)

He jumped when Pesterchum dinged and fell off his chair.

ED: † I got it! †  
ED: † Yay me! :-) †  
DD: **\ Muy bien, Chris!  
DD: **\ You ready? I'm installing mine now.  
ED: † kk †

Juan pulled out the disk sleeves and inserted them into his laptop. Almost immediately, a text window opened up, signaling that the game was ready. "That was quick." Juan commented, impressed.

DD: **\ Okay, Chris, it's ready!  
ED: † So's mine. †

Sburb's window dinged lightly.  
"Sburb client is running.  
Sburb server is running.  
A Sburb Host user is attempting to connect with you  
Client has established connection with host.  
Press ENTER when ready.

Juan, for reasons unknown to him, took a slow deep breath before lightly tapping at the return key.

The game responded by bringing up a loading screen of a rapidly spinning spirograph above a loading bar that was filling up just as quickly. Within a minute, it vanished, and the Sburb Gold logo appeared on the screen: A gold house broken in four pieces like a jigsaw puzzle: a roof, right half, left half and a diamond in the center.

ED: † Wow dude †  
ED: † I can see your room! †  
DD: Qué?  
ED: † I can also see you, and... †  
ED: † Hehehe, I can make it look like I'm poking you with the cursor! †  
ED: † Like this! †  
ED: † Poke! †

"Ow!" Juan yelped as he felt a force sharply hit the back of his head and whipped around to see a familiarly-shaped object floating directly behind him. "What the...?" The object resembled the Sburb logo almost perfectly, with the only real difference being that it was 3-D. Staring at it, the Mexican took a picture of it with and sent it to Chris.

DD: **\ Hombre... ¿qué es esta cosa en mi dormitorio? (3)  
\- dilegentDiviner [DD] sent -  
ED: † Dude... I... †  
ED: † I think it's the cursor! †  
DD: **\ ¡Esta imposible! (4)  
ED: † I'm looking at you on the screen! I can see you pointing your laptop at it! †  
ED: † Watch! †

* * *

Almost in response, the object, now identified as Sburb's cursor, began moving around the room, first gently picking up his dragon-plate Dragonborn statue, then releasing it with a thump. It then moved over to a discarded book titled RASP... and dropped it on Juan's head.  
DD: **\ Ow! Halta por favor!  
ED: † Lo siento... tryin' to get the hang of this...† (5)  
ED: † I hate my mouse... always slides too much... †  
ED: † I was TRYING to put it on the bed. †

The cursor continued its exploration before stopping over his bed.

ED: † I think I got it down! †  
ED: † Okay, I see this list of objects and they look pretty big... Any suggestions to where I should put them? †  
\- experimentalDeity [ED] sent -

In the picture was what looked like a Heads-Up Display over Juan's room, displaying an inventory. In it were four objects: a punched Catchpalogue card in the green color of Juan's backpack, a large platform-like object, a blocky contraption with a wheel, and a thin lathe.

DD: **\ the uh, big flat one...  
ED: † That's called the... Alchemiter. †  
ED: † The blocky one's the Cruxtruder, and the third one's a Totem Lathe. †  
DD: **\ Yeah that one...  
DD: **\ It can go... in my foyer.  
DD: **\ Same with the others.  
DD: **\Might as well have 'em all in one spot!  
ED: † Good plan. †

Three loud thumps sounded throughout the house. Juan immediately walked his laptop downstairs to his house's entryway where the three large contraptions sat fairly comfortably on the rug. Pesterchum emitted it's familiar ding! noise.

ED: † Hope you like where they are. †  
ED: † Because I can't move 'em without a lot of... Build Grist it says, whatever that is. †  
DD: **\ It'll do hombre. It'll do.  
ED: † According to this guide I found by one Ms. Lalonde... You gotta open the Cruxtruder. †  
ED: † Preferably by hitting the lid or wheel with something heavy. †  
DD: **\ Heavy, huh? :-1 Hold that thought.

Juan rushed up to his room and located a large femur-shaped Warhammer. "This'll do." he smirked, before rushing back down and bringing the heavy bone weapon down onto the cruxtruder. The lid immediately popped off, revealing the top of a tan cylinder and a rapidly flashing orb. Juan quickly looked away. "Ai, Dios Mio, mis ojos..." he muttered, rubbing the spots that the seizure-inducing sprite had seared onto his corneas. Upon opening them, he suddenly noticed a timer on the Cruxtruder had activated.

ED: † Dude... is that a timer?! †  
DD: **\ Looks like it.  
DD: **\ Just over four minutes. And what's this thing?

Juan pulled out the foot-long cylinder and held it up so Chris could see it from his screen.

ED: † That's called... Cruxite. Specifically a Cruxite Dowel. †  
ED: † It's supposed to help with making stuff on the alchemiter. †  
ED: † And Mr. Seizure ball over there is called a Kernelsprite. †  
DD: **\ Heheh... Seizure ball...  
ED: † {laughs and clears throat} †  
ED: † This card should have something to do with it... †

Chris released the punched card and Juan picked it up. The card bore a picture of a tan potted sapling. Picking it up, Juan turned to the lathe.

3: 29.

Looking inside the lathe's slot, he realized it was the exact width of the card. A clamp on the side was the perfect fit for the dowel of Cruxite. After inserting both, several blades in a unique pattern stretched down and carved the cylinder into a totem. "Incredible..." Juan muttered, removing the molded dowel almost reverentially and examining it, jumping when his laptop beeped at him.

ED: † Dude! Quit staring at it, you're running outta time! †  
DD: **\ Lo siento.  
DD: **\ This is just... fascinating!  
DD: **\ Can't wait to study this...  
ED: † It can wait, just †  
ED: † Is your house shaking? †  
DD: **\ Qué?

Juan watched as a vase near the door fell and shattered, then shoved the totem into the "Key item" pocket of his backpack and rushed outside. The rest of his neighborhood was shaking too. Multiple people were standing outside and looking up at the sky while murmuring in Spanish at each-other. Juan did the same, and his eyes widened at the sight.

High above was a massive bright object hurtling through the. "Qué es esta?" he asked himself, pulling some binoculars out and looking through them. "Oh my..." Juan gulped as his eyes widened behind the lenses when the object was revealed to be a burning meteor.. and it was headed right for his house! "Oh. My. GOD!" The boy swore before running back inside to his computer and typing rapidly in pure Spanish.

DD: **\ Un metero! Un metero se dirigió a mi casa! (6)  
ED: † Dude! Yo no comprende mucho español! † (7)  
DD: **\THERE'S A FUCKING METEOR HEADED FOR MY HOUSE!  
ED: † Oh. †  
ED: † OH! †  
ED: † ... †  
ED: † Um, crazy as it sounds, I think that's what the timer is for! †  
DD: **\ What are you talking about? Tú es una persona loco! (8)  
ED: † Think about it! †  
ED: † If there was a meteor headed for Earth, the news would've said so, right? †  
ED: † There would've been the whole "stay calm" thing, "evacuate" and all that stuff. †  
ED: † But there wasn't a warning! †  
ED: † So impossible as it may sound... †  
DD: **\\... the Cruxtruder must've summoned it!  
DD: **\ Dios mío...  
DD: **\ According to the timer... I only have exactly three minutes!  
ED: † THEN MAKE THE SEEDLING HOMBRE! †  
ED: † DO IT! †

Juan rushed over to the Alchemiter and fumbled with the totem before placing firmly on the pedestal. An arm-mounted laser unfolded and scanned the curves of it and materialized a small seed, which promptly evolved into a sapling in a pot.

DD: **\ How the diablos does a sapling stop a meteor!  
ED: † Yo no se! The guide isn't clear! †  
ED: † It does say you need to prototype the Seizure Ball with something before you do anything with it! †  
ED: † Just put the sapling in sunlight for now and water it! †  
ED: † Speaking of Seizure Ball, why is it hovering over there? †

Juan looked over, where the rapidly flashing ball floated near a mounted Mexican free-tailed bat.

DD: **\ You mean Remolino? He was my old pet bat.  
DD: **\ Died years ago...  
DD: **\ Wait... Prototype... that's it!

The Mexican grabbed the taxidermied free-tailed bat off of the base and threw it into the sprite, which flashed and developed a bat's face and wings, flashing many shades of tan and squeaking rapidly. "Well, at least it's not AS seizure-inducing..." Juan mumbled, walking into the kitchen with the sapling.

Holding it under the running faucet for a moment, Juan watched as it quickly grew a little bigger, the plant inside pushing against it's pot. "Now it just needs some light." he commented

Back in the foyer, Juan sat down cross-legged in a patch of sunlight with the plant in his lap and watched the timer wind down, his natural impatience urging it to hurry up.

2:19

With each passing second, the seedling grew bigger and bigger.

2:18

The plant was soon ready to bloom.

2:17

Petals began to spread wide.

2:16

The flower opened, revealing its identity as a lotus. Suddenly, it began to glow with a bright tan light, as did his windows.

From outside, the entire two-story building glowed a bright white and vanished. Two minutes later, a meteor slammed into the small ditch that once held the foundation and obliterated it, along with the rest of the small town.

_There was darkness. For an instant, violet light filled the Mexican's vision, before it returned to the darkness._

... _Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding!_

Juan woke up to Pesterchum's persistent dinging. It appeared he had fainted when the lotus bloomed. Groggily, the teen pulled his laptop closer and read Chris' messages.

ED: † Juan? †  
ED: † Hola, Juan! †  
ED: † ... †  
ED: † Are you okay? †  
ED: ... †  
ED: † DUDE PLEASE ANSWER ME SO I KNOW YOU'RE OKAY! D-: †  
DD: **\ I'm here, I'm here! I'm okay...  
ED: † Oh thank Ra... †  
DD: **\ That flower knocked me out.  
ED: † Looks like it... †  
ED: † Whoa, check out the Kernelsprite... †

Juan looked blearily at the flying orb and rubbed his eyes. The object appeared to be splitting in half. With another flash it had split in three: A dark orb, a light orb, and a ghostly wisp. The light one flew up through the roof while the dark one zipped into the ground.

DD: **\ It just...  
ED: † Broke in half, yeah, I see it. †  
ED: † Incredible... †

Juan rushed to the windows. Outside was a small oasis, surrounded by dunes of sand stretching to the horizon. "Dios mío... Dondé estoy?" (8) he asked aloud. Followed by the ghostly Sprite, he stepped outside.

As the window suggested, his home had been transported to a whole other world. This was clear from the fact that the sky was pitch-black. Palm trees surrounded the circle of yard that had been teleported with his house, but almost immediately to his right, ticking loudly but erratically, was a massive clocktower resembling London's Big Ben. Looking through his binoculars, he could see more, similar towers in the distance.

"The Land of Sand and Clocktowers." the sprite commented casually, startling Juan. "Or La Tierra de Arena Y Torres de Reloj" if you prefer."

"¿Remo?" The boy asked. "¿Eres tú?" (10)

"Sí, amigo. It's me." Remosprite replied smiling. "I'd hug but... these wings aren't really the best for that."

"I think I can fix that." Juan smiled back. "Just... gimme a second." He turned to his laptop.

* * *

**Translations:**

**(1) "Hello Mister Juan Miguel  
You have been chosen to be one of the first players of our new game Sburb Gold! We do hope you and your co-player, one Chris Eyvindr, enjoy the game! Please let us know after you beat it about any concerns you may have.  
Yours truly,  
The Skaianet Company"**

**(2) "Hurry up, Chris! Let's go!"**

**(3) "Man/Dude, what's this thing in my bedroom?"**

**(4) "That's impossible!"**

**(5) "Ow! Stop please." ... "Sorry."**

**(6) "A meteor! A meteor is headed for my house!"**

**(7) "I don't understand much Spanish."**

**(8) "You are a crazy person!"**

**(9) "My God... where am I?"**

**(10) "Is that you?"**

**Next time on Champions of Rasp! Exposition and Entry!**


	3. Chris

**Novanto's Notes: Sorry about the fake chap notifications... FF was being... FF. Trying to catch this version up with the others! Enjoy Chris's Entry!**

* * *

DD: **\ I'm gonna prototype Remosprite with my Zekrom Dragonborn.  
ED: † Who's Remosprite? †  
DD: **\ Well, the bat's name was Remolino (1), so...  
ED: † Oh, I get it! †  
ED: † Good choice of name, very fitting. †  
ED: † Wait WHAT? Zekrom Dragonborn?! †  
DD: **\ you didn't notice earlier?  
DD: **\ Go look, idiota! I'll meet you up there.  
\- diligentDiviner [DD] is now an idle chum! -

Chris moved the camera up to Juan's room and took a closer look at the statue. He noticed that the armor had been modified with the big black wings and mitt-like arm protrusions of the Dragon of Ideals. It even had a slimmed version of the Electric-typed Legend's spiked-and-blue striped tail. The helmet had even been modified to include Zekrom's thunderbolt crest. The Californian teen then recalled that Juan had played Pokemon White, while Chris had chosen Black. The pair had met only a few years ago in an online battle, and had quickly forged a friendship after a hard-fought battle between opposing sides of Legend Pairs.

DD: **\ You like it?  
ED: † ... like it? No. †  
DD: **\ :'-(  
ED: † I FRIKKIN' LOVE IT! :-D †  
DD: **\ :-O :-D Yay!  
ED: † Let's prototype your sprite into... †  
DD: **\ Remokromsprite!  
ED: † XD †

Smiling, Chris dragged the statue into the ghostly bat, and watched as it began to change. The sprite grew arms and a humanoid head. Then the Zekrom-themed Dragonplate armor coalesced upon it: The mitt-like gauntlets, a crested and horned helmet with gaps for the bat ears, and a cuirass with slots for the wings. The sprite then grew a second pair of wings, the dark (now dark brown) wings of the powerful Legendary 'Mon.

DD: **\ Look's cool, huh?  
ED: † Yeah it does! †  
ED: † Dude, I can see something coming through your door. †  
DD: **\ Looks really sunburnt.

Juan pulled out his warhammer and rushed downstairs. The creature was small, and looked vicious, with large ears, small wings and clawed fingers. The imp knocked over a vase and smirked. "Hey! Get outta my house!" the clearly-angry Mexican ordered, before bringing the hammer down on the beast. The imp squeaked and dodged. "Hold still!" he demanded.

As he watched Juan beat up what he was calling a Clay Imp, Chris pulled a pack of Skittles from his Pouch Sylladex and eats it like he's watching a movie. He also noticed that his friend was fairly muscular, and his tan lightning bolt T-shirt and pants did nothing to hide how strong the tanned boy looked and clearly was judging by how hard and fast his blows were.

Eventually the critter fell down, dead. Its body morphed into strange, brown and grey gem-shaped constructs. Juan dropped the hammer and touched the objects, which vanished with a dull flash.

DD: **\ What were those things?  
ED: † According to the walkthrough, it's called Grist. We need for building... I dunno what exactly... †  
ED: † I'll read the walkthrough some more. †  
ED: † You see if the sprite has any info we can use. †  
DD:**\ Okay...  
\- ED is idle-Chris clicked out of the window, where Juan was walking outside and conversing with his Sprite as it gestured in response, back to the walkthrough, examining it. Unfortunately, the author ended her explanation rather strangely, saying that magic was real and from there dissolving into static and a brightly glowing signature. Pushing back from the desk, Aden wandered out toward his home's shrine to the major Kemetic deities in the patio. Kneeling before the ibis-headed Thoth statuette, he prayed for the god's wisdom and assistance.

...

"Thank you for your time, Lord Djehuti." Chris finished up his prayer and stood up, nodding in respect to the other statues before exiting the shrine. Glancing out into the yard, he noticed the wild albino gator he had affectionately named Sippy giving a rasping yawn as he sunned himself on the shore. A he watched, the crocodilian appeared to flicker and spark with green energy.

Chris simply smiled at the familiar action, as it simply meant that the reptile was aware that he was being stared at, and returned to his computer, where a connection was waiting to be made, and a message was waiting.

DD: **\ Anything?  
DD: **\ Just lemme know when you're ready!  
ED: † I'm ready. †  
ED: † The walkthrough just cut off. It was weird. †  
DD: **\ I think Remokrom has some info.  
DD: **\ we had a chat and he explained a lot of stuff to me!  
DD: **\ I recorded it. Here, watch this vid.  
-diligentDreamer sent La_exposició 4- (4)  
ED: † Okay... †

Chris clicked on the file and opened it, retrieving the candy he had set aside earlier as he watched.

On the screen was Remokromsprite. Juan appeared to be using his phone's camera, since he wasn't visible.

"This place is The Medium." The sprite began. "Specifically, an Incipisphere. Beyond The Seven Gates floating above your house up there," here he pointed upward, where a series of tan-colored circular patterns rotated in place, leading up to the blue-tinted sun. "At the center of this Incipisphere, lies Skaia, a well of creative potential. I can't tell you exactly what that means though..." he added with a shrug.

"Can't or won't?" Juan's voice asked with a hint of suspicion.

"Los dos." The sprite replied with a sigh. "Lo siento." (5)

"It's okay, Remo. Not your fault. Probably some estupido rule of this place stoppin' ya. Go on."

"Okay... well, Skaia is defended by Prospit, el Reino de la Luz (6), while Derse, el Reino de la Oscuridad (7), is on the offensive." As the sprite explained, an illusion began to form in his hands. Remo held his palms a short distance apart, and between them appeared a translucent three-by-three chessboard. On it were two chess kings, one white and one black, locked in a stalemate, making the only moves that kings could make in such a situation: rotating one by one around the edge. "In Skaia's core the two forces are locked in a perpetual check... at least, until you arrived here."

"Huh?"

"You remember my Kernel sprite form splitting? Well, the kernel bits carried information. One to a spire on Derse, and to another to one to Prospit. Two Spires each, above the Queen's throne, transmit the data all around the Medium, affecting the entire game, and then..." Remo gave a smirk as he spoke. In his hands, the image of a bat's ears and wings hovered over the two kings, and the board began to grow and zoom out. The kings grew wings and ears. Pieces materialized on each side and approached. The board soon transformed into a perspectively massive cube. "That's when the game REALLY begins! A war between Prospit and Derse. However..." Here, he frowned and sighed sadly. "Prospit is unfortunately destined to loose, no matter what."

"Then... ¿Que es el punto (8) of this game if we're only going to lose?" Juan inquired.

"The battle isn't the focus of the game." Remo explained. "Your focus is on The Ultimate Riddle."

"You mean like, "What walks on four legs in the morning"?"

Remo simply shrugged. "Can't tell. That's for you to find out. For now, though, your only goal is to get through the first gate by building up your house, and getting your friend into the Incipisphere."

"Okay... gracias, amigo..." The camera turned around to show Juan's face. "Buenos suerte Chris!" he said with a faint smile before the video ended.

Chris sighed and cracked his knuckles in preparation. "Okay, I'm ready..." he muttered. With that, he briefly read over the Connection Ready message, and tapped Enter.

DD: **\ Hehehehe...  
DD: **\ VENGANZA!  
DD: **\ Poke~

The instant Chris read the Spanish word for revenge, he leaned to the side and look at his head's former position to see the cursor floating where his head had been a moment earlier. Smirking, he readjusted himself and typed back.

ED: † That probably would've worked... †  
ED: † If my glasses weren't reflective. †  
ED: † {sticks tongue out} †  
DD: **\ Nyahh!

Juan's cursor began randomly picking stuff up. first the Dragonborn statue, then his bed, then a few scattered books which were dropped on the bed.

DD: **\ Dios mio you're skinny!  
ED: † I know... †  
DD: **\ You could hide behind a flagpole! lol  
ED: † Gasp! How'd you know my secret? †  
DD: **\ Hahaha!  
ED: † {laughs} What about you, hombre? †  
ED: † You're built like a frikkin' truck! †  
ED: † You have a beautiful voice, btw †  
DD: **\ Thank you! ^_^  
ED: † I'm gonna try to start building. †  
ED: † You got... 200 Build Grist... Should be enough to start off! †  
ED: † According to the walkthrough, building by duplication is easier... †  
ED: † So... †

Chris used the cursor to "select" the entirety of Juan's house's basic appearance, then duplicated it onto the main house. It materialized instantly, doubling the house's height. Grinning, Chris quickly added a ladder by dragging a section of empty space to the roof, where the First Gate waited patiently.

ED: † Done! †  
DD: **\ Wait...  
ED: † What? †  
DD: **\ Before I go through it, I think I should bring you into the session.  
ED: † Okay... †  
DD: **\ Just gonna move a few things in your living room...  
DD: **\ Then drop these here...  
DD: **\ There!  
ED: † Okay, switching to phone, hold on... †  
\- experimentalDeity [ED] ceased pestering diligentDiviner [DD] -

Chris picked up his iPhone, which was held in a protective case emblazoned with a shining Gold Ankh from his favorite game, Sphinx and the Rise of Apophis, the long-desired sequel to The Cursed Mummy. The life hieroglyph was superimposed onto a swirling blue background. Smiling at the logo, Chris walked into his living room where his couch had been moved back to make room for the Alchemiter, lathe, and Cruxtruder. Chris promptly opened his Pesterchum app.

\- experimentalDeity [ED] began pestering diligentDiviner [DD]

ED: † Okay, I see 'em. †  
DD: **\ kk, just open the crux-thingy and lets get started!

Chris tapped his chin in thought as he gazed at the third device's lid. "Now what can I use to open you... I know! That mace!" he commented aloud, rushing back to his room and throwing open his closet.

Inside, behind the teen's nicer clothing, was a smaller version of the armor that the statue wore. But instead of the brilliant bronze color the six-foot Khajiit had on, this custom set was the usual dull brown color of the in-game set, and sized for Chris' five-foot-six beanpole of a body. Hanging next to the suit were four bone weapons: a bow and quiver full of arrows, an axe, a sword in its sheath, and a mace, the last of which was grabbed by the brunet. "Here you are!"

Chris ran back to the living room, and brought the club down on the lid with a thunk. It popped off quickly, and the boy released the weapon on instinct, startled by the sudden flashing appearance of the Sprite.

ED: † Gah! †  
ED: † Damn seizure ball... †  
ED: † My eyes... ow... †  
DD: **\ Haha!  
DD: **\ Ahora tú sabe mi dolor! (9)  
ED: † I get it... †  
ED: † Looks like I have two minutes and 16 seconds to do stuff. †  
ED: † Card please! †  
DD: **\ Prototype the sprite first... get that outta the way...  
DD: **\ And is that an alligator on your porch?!

Chris looked to see that Sippy had moved into the porch and was apparently sunning himself in a warm spot.

ED: † That's Sippy, the albino gator that lives in the lagoon out back. †  
ED: † I don't own him though, its illegal. †  
ED: † He's fairly harmless so long as he's left alone. †  
DD:**\ Okay... if you say so...  
ED: † Anywho... I'm gonna give it my statue! †  
DD: **\ Tú serio? (10)  
ED: † Yep! I was thinking about using that elemental doll thing on my bookstand, but then I thought about how your sprite said your pet bat prototyping affected the Session and went †  
ED: † "Wait I KNOW all of S'hawn's weaknesses! What he's deathly allergic to, what he's afraid of, and all the kinks of his armor!" †  
ED: † "I know exactly how to kill him! I don't know how to kill an Elemental." †  
DD: **\ Good thinking; go ahead!

Chris smiled and coaxed the flashing ball into his room, and from there until it contacted with the statue, absorbing it. With a flash, it transformed into floating cat's head in a dragonscale helm, all in aquamarine.

ED: † Meet Shawnsprite! †  
DD: **\ Hola Shawnsprite! Como estás? (11)

The ball flashed, speaking in a strange, accented tongue far too quickly for either human to understand.

DD: **\ Let's avoid talking to it for now...  
ED: † HIM, and agreed. †  
DD: **\ Oh, sorry. Here's the card.

A punched sky blue card, matching those in Chris' Pouch modus, materialized and dropped into Chris' hand. Briefly, he recalled that Chris' card was forest green, matching his Pack modus. Glancing out the window, he saw a meteor streaking across the sky.

ED: † Looks like a harp. †  
DD:**\ Put it in and find out!  
DD:**\ You only gotta minute!  
ED: † Eep!  
ED: † And I see the meteor! †  
DD: **\ RAPIDAMENTE! (12)

Waisting no further time, Chris grabbed his aquamarine cruxite and carved it into a totem, before plopping it onto the Alchemiter.

An aqua-colored artifact materialized: A Greek lyre... which Chris had no idea how to play.

ED: † I DUNNO HOW TO PLAY A LYRE! †  
DD: **\ Play... I dunno, Camptown Rangers or something!  
ED: † Worth a shot... †

Chris sighed and set the phone aside, grabbing the instrument. Giving a quick strum across the strings to find their notes, he glanced at the timer.  
0:30

The boy began to play the familiar tune slowly and carefully.

0:20

After he got comfortable, he started to sing. "Camptown ladies sing this song, doo da, doo da...

:10

"... I went down South with my hat caved in, doo da, doo da... I came back north with a pocket full of tin... oh, de doo da day!"

Five seconds. The lyre began to glow. Four seconds. The house began to shake as the fiery ball of death came closer. Three seconds. The lines of the house seemed to glow. Two seconds. Light shone through the windows. One second. Just before the meteor hit, the room seemed to pulse massively, and Chris collapsed unconscious.

Chris snapped awake in a familiar room. It looked like his bedroom, except everything was golden. Even the walls looked to be gold plated with an intricate pattern of aquamarine. In each of the walls was a window. The only other difference was that in place of S'hawn's statue was an ornate statue of the falcon-headed sun god Ra, a was scepter in his right hand, and an ankh in his left.

Chris ignored the familiar object in favor of the window next to it. Walking to it, he stared out over the yellow city. Seized by an urge, Chris grinned and allowed himself to tumble over the edge...and begin to fly through the streets. Ivory-colored people watched him in awe, muttering "Our Champion is awake... The Rogue has risen, we have our Space!" and cheering in glee. Chris grinned at the praise and flew straight for the large golden chain at an incredible speed. Upon reaching it, he paused and looked away from the glowing blue object he recognized from Juan's video as Skaia. Out in the darkness, an aquamarine light suddenly shone. A bolt of energy shot from the point into the psuedo-sun, which responded by sending pulsations toward the object, which slowly began to grow.

Grinning at the beam, he turned and looked up at the chain to the larger city-world, and raced up along it. The brunet zipped over plazas, walkways, and what looked like small cathedrals dedicated to that "Champion" the passing Carapacians had mentioned in awe as they stared at the flying teenager in golden yellow clothes. Soon, he saw two tall golden towers, both of which were topped by an orb, but only one of those was illuminated and seemed to contain the image of a bat, while the other remained dull.

Chris slowly landed in a courtyard in front of the two spires where he gazed up at a yellow marble statue of a king and queen, he holding a scepter, she wearing a ring on her finger. "Wow..." he muttered looking at a plaque embedded into the effigy's base. It read "Our Rulers-Long May They Reign." in flowing cursive. nearby, a long red carpet stretched into the nearby castle that sat between the Towers. Curious, Chris gently flew over it, keeping his body upright.

As he entered the castle, he noticed that the guards stationed at the doors bowed their heads at him. "Am I... someone important here?" he asked aloud.

"Yes you very much are, young man." A calm female voice replied, startling Chris, who whipped around to see the speaker and dropped to his feet. It was the queen in the sculpture, though this person was the same ivory skinned species as the other inhabitants, wore gorgeous clothing in tints of blue, green and pink. From her back sprouted large bat wings, and her head had ears of a similar origin. "Welcome to Prospit, the Kingdom of Light."

"Um... I'm honored to be in your presence, Your Majesty." Chris bowed clumsily.

The White Queen chuckled lightly. "There is no need to bow, Champion." She commented with a pleasant smile as the brunet stood. "For here, you are very important to my people, on an equal level as I, perhaps even higher. I'm sure you noticed how my subjects gazed upon you with awe and respect during your flight?"

"I was wondering about that..."

"There is a legend about you and your Derse Dreamer friend."

"Derse?"

"The Kingdom of Darkness." she explained. "When your friend slumbers, his dreams manifest into a physical body in a room similar to the one you awoke in so long ago, on the moon of the dark kingdom."

"Oh..."

"As I was saying, there is a legend. It is said that Prospit waits for he who will unite his consorts and bring us all to a new world in the clouds."

"And you think this person is... me?" Chris sounded incredulous. "Besides..." Chris looked up at the massive partly-cloudy sky blue orb of Skaia high above. "This place looks pretty high in the clouds to me..."

The queen chuckled behind her hand. "I suppose you will understand soon enough..." she commented sweetly. "But I suggest you take a closer look at those clouds later. It's time to wake up."

"Wait wha-?" The teen was interrupted by the queen tapping his head lightly, after which he collapsed unconscious on the soft ruby red carpet, with the last thing his brain registering was a cloud obscuring Skaia's star-like core.

* * *

**Translations**

**(1) Remolino: Eddy**  
**(2) Djehuti: The Egyptian name for the god Thoth**  
**(3) Sippy: A First Guardian alligator named for the American alligator's scientific name**  
**(4) La_exposició 4: The_ 4**

**(5) Los dos... lo siento.: Both... I'm sorry.**

**(6) el Reino de la Luz: the Kingdom of Light  
(7) el Reino de la Oscuridad: the Kingdom of Darkness  
(8) ¿Que es el punto...: What is the point...  
(9) VENGANZA!: REVENGE  
(10) Ahora tú sabe mi dolor: Now you know my pain  
(11) Tú serio?: [Are] You serious  
(12) Hola Shawnsprite! Como estás?: Hello Shawnsprite! How are you?  
(13) RAPIDAMENTE!: Hurry! (literally "rapidly!")**

**And now, the actual description  
Chris is a Neo-Kemetic. He worships the Egyptian deities like Ra, Isis, Bastet, Thoth, etc (there's not enough room for all the minors (let's be serious, they have one for everything but ice and you'd probs need a shrine the size of Rhode Island if you wanted one for all of them), but dear Bes has a shrine as well). Juan however is a non-practicing Catholic; most of his family up to his grandparent's generation is the same, though Juan still does the Father-Son-Holy Ghost crossing himself thing Catholics do when they passes a Catholic church and prays occasionally.**

**You may be wondering, "Novanto, why didn't Juan's previous chapter mention that his Dragonborn armor mannequin was Zekrom themed?" Well, that answer is actually twofold. The IRL answer to that is that I slightly alter writing styles between Chris and Juan. The former's is far more descriptive than the latter's.**

**The in-character answer is that Chris notices a lot more stuff, but he didn't really pay attention to what the statue looks like, beyond "Hey, that's the Argonian-styled Dragonplate set I FedEx'd to Juan for his birthday a couple years ago! I wonder if I can pick it up." during his fiddling around with Juan's stuff, and only really noticed it when it was directly pointed out. Juan however is mildly depressed due to an... incident early in life (you'll find out what this incident is later in the story). This coupled with the loss of his pet puts a cloud over Juan's mind, and as a consequence, he isn't as observant.**

**No, Chris does not legally own the First Guardian 'gator. That's MAJORLY illegal in California unless you have a permit. And even then, you need to be a zoo to get one anyway. His family doesn't bother the gator, and it doesn't bother them. Though it did once save Chris from drowning, for which the family is grateful.**

**Sphinx and the Rise of Apophis is the title I'd LIKE the sequel to Cursed Mummy to have... Oh, if only... Anywho, in this universe, SATCM did great enough to get the sequel it deserved, and the fandom is massive, rivaling Portal's in size and relative stability.**

**The Khajiit's Dragonscale armor was made from the scales of Legendary Dragons, giving it a bronze color similar to Dwarven. Chris' is standard Dragonscale. Both Chris and Juan each have a long range weapon. Chris uses arrows, while Juan's fairly good at throwing knives.**


End file.
